Page 46 - World Airnews Magazine April 2020 Edition

ELECTRIC
AIRCRAFT

WHY FULLY ELECTRIC

AVIATION IS NOT

FOR TOMORROW

So why did OSM Aviation turn all-electric and Another problem that arises from relying

what are the drawbacks for the manufacturers? on a battery is safety. A damaged battery

he aviation industry is under un- The world of inventors already produced can combust, as shown by the multiple

Tprecedented pressure regarding its a few successful examples. In 1884, Charles power bank incidents that have led the ICAO

impact on the climate. Aircraft manufactur- Renard and Arthur Constantin Krebs piloted council to ban all spare lithium-ion batteries

ers and airlines redouble their engagement the first fully controllable electric vehicle, from cargo holds. And if parking your Tesla

to limit their carbon footprint. Motivated an air balloon, over eight kilometres. on the side of the highway to watch it turn

by the example of the car industry, a In 1973, Fred Militky and Heino Britéesch- into flames and smoke is one thing, landing a

plane on fire is another kind of challenge.
number of them see the electric plane as a ka converted a Britéeschka HB-3 powered
way forward. However, that does not seem glider into an electric plane renamed Milit- CLOSING THE TECHNOLOGICAL GAP

likely to happen tomorrow. ky MB-E1. After reaching an altitude of 300 The first frontier should be regional

While manufacturers are improving on metres for a flight of fourteen minutes, it aviation. In July 2018, Norway set the

the fuel efficiency of their aircraft, the became the first manned electric aircraft. ambitious goal to see all short-haul airliners

technological improvement cannot keep In 2007, the BL1E Electra was the first be fully electric by 2040. Manufacturers

up with the densification of traffic. Thus, conventional light aircraft to be powered by are scrambling to deliver on such promises.

electric aircraft appear as a solution for a an electric motor. Finally, in 2015, the Air- Expecting a fully electric aircraft to fly

sustainable future. And they have more bus E-Fan crossed the Channel from Lydd, commercial routes in the near future might
than one advantage. in the United Kingdom to Calais, France. be a bit ambitious. However, hybrid propul-

In addition to the reduction of carbon But those groundbreaking records have yet to sion systems are a more tangible compro-

emissions, they also offer a reduction in turn into a sustainable solution. While the Pipis- mise. After cancelling the fully-electric E-fan

noise production. With air traffic becoming trel Alpha Electro is already certified in the US, programme in 2017, Airbus, Siemens, and
increasingly dense in all regions of the world, its capacity of two people will not be enough to Rolls Royce set out to develop the engine of

it is a welcome quality for the cohabitation revolutionize the industry of air transport. a hybrid plane, the E-Fan X. One of the four

between airports and local communities. The main challenge remains techno- engines of a BAE Systems Avro RJ100 regional

Another incentive is the reduction of logical. Engineers have to find the right jet will be replaced by a 2MW hybrid-electric

operational costs. balance between the weight of batteries propulsion system. If Siemens abandoned the

Espen Høiby, CEO of OSM Aviation, has and the amount of power needed for a project in June 2019, the aircraft is still sched-

said that an electric trainer costs 78% less to flight. Current weight efficiency meant that uled to take to the skies around 2021.

operate than a conventional trainer. In April one-third of the two-seat Airbus E-fan was Boeing is also betting on hybrid propul-

2019, the Norwegian company hit the news dedicated to batteries. With the speed at sion. Through the start-up Zunum Aero,
with the announcement of their transition which energy density is improving, crossing it intends to transport 12 passengers on

to a fully electric fleet for training, using 60 the distance between a trainer plane and regional flights while producing 80% lower

eFlyer 2 developed by Bye Aerospace. an airliner should take decades. CO2 emission. The entry into service is
World Airnews | April 2020
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